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In the Steps of Operetta: Austrian Cinema's Relation to History

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In the Steps of Operetta: Austrian Cinema's Relation to History ISSN 2414-8385 (Online) European Journal of January - April 2019 ISSN 2414-8377 (Print) Multidisciplinary Studies Volume 4, Issue 1 In the Steps of Operetta: Austrian Cinema’s Relation to History Francesco Bono Dipartimento di Filosofia, Scienze Sociali, Umane e della Formazione, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Perugia, Italy Abstract This essay intends to investigate some aspects of the multifaceted relationship between the Viennese operetta and Austrian film in the period from the 1930s to the 1950s. In particular, the essay will try to trace the influence of the operetta on the way in which Austrian films depicted the country’s history. Focusing on some of the most popular Austrian films of the period, including Willi Forst’s Operette (1940), Wiener Blut (1942) and Wiener Mädeln (1944-49), as well as Ernst Marischka’s trilogy from the late 1950s about the Austrian empress “Sissi”, the essay will critically discuss Austrian cinema’s penchant for the past, investigating the affinity of the Austrian (musical) film to the Viennese operetta, which served as its ideological and aesthetic model. In its affection for the past, Austrian cinema followed in the steps of the Viennese operetta. In contrast with the Hollywood musical genre or German musical films like Die Drei von der Tankstelle (1930) or Hallo Janine (1939), to mention just two of the most famous ones from the pre-war era, history was a key component of the Austrian Musikfilm. In Austria, the musical film overlapped with the historical genre, and it strongly influenced the country’s memory of its past. By investigating the connection between the Viennese operetta and Austrian cinema, this essay aims to provide a better understanding of Austrian films in the cultural, political and historical context in which they saw the light of day. Keywords: Austrian cinema, Austrian culture, Operetta, Musical film. 1. Introduction From the beginning of the 1930s, following the introduction of sound film, to the 1950s, the musical genre and more specifically operetta films represented a significant component of German-speaking cinema. This seems particularly true for Austrian cinema. Along with the Wiener Film genre, that is the so-called Viennese films, consisting in a variable mixture of comedy, romance and melodrama and preferably set in the Vienna of the turn of the century, the Musikfilm was the other genre that most distinctively defined Austrian cinema in the period considered, up to the point that Austrian cinema would often be identified with it. There are a number of scholarly works paying attention to the influence of operetta on the development of the musical genre in German-speaking cinema (K. Uhlenbrok, 1998; M. Hagener, & J. Hans, 1999; Wedel, 2007; R. Rother, & P. Mänz, 2008). In discussing its relationship to operetta, two perspectives have been, broadly speaking, privileged; focus has been put, on one hand, on the films that were directly derived from stage operettas and, on the other hand, on the influence that operetta exercised on German and Austrian musical films at the dramaturgical and, more generally, aesthetical level. The present essay intends to take into consideration a different and specific aspect of the multifaceted relationship between Austrian film and the Viennese variant of operetta, that is the Wiener Operette, as it developed from the Parisian operetta in the course of the second half of the 19th century, significantly differentiating itself from the French model. By discussing some of the most famous films made in Austria in the period from the 1930s to the 1950s, including Willi Forst’s films from the early 1940s: Operette, Wiener Blut and Wiener Mädel, as well as Ernst Marischka’s post-war trilogy on Austrian empress Elisabeth (better known as “Sissi”), this essay will attempt to trace the influence of the operetta on the way in which Austrian films of the time depicted the country’s history. In its penchant for the past, which long characterized part of Austrian cinema, the latter, as shall be argued in this essay, followed in the tradition of Viennese operetta. History was a key component of Austrian Musikfilm of the time, which on the banks of the blue Danube, as this essay will attempt to show, overlapped with the historical genre, contributing strongly to shape the country’s memory of its past. 80 ISSN 2414-8385 (Online) European Journal of January - April 2019 ISSN 2414-8377 (Print) Multidisciplinary Studies Volume 4, Issue 1 2. Operetta Films and Austrian History An alchemy workshop appears on screen. Peculiar sounds can be heard. Along the wall there is an assortment of different flasks stacked on a rack. More ampoules stand on a large table in the center of the room. A glass retort rests on a flame. An elderly man with a pointed beard, grey hair and glasses appears. An owl crouches on his shoulder, keeping him company. The alchemist takes a number of bottles from a shelf. Their labels read “Humor”, “Levity” and “Heart”. He pours the same amount from each into the retort. Then he reaches for a vial that reads “History”, carefully extracting a few drops before taking a larger bottle labeled “Music” in hand and pouring its contents generously into the retort. The indistinct music accompanying the scene thus far takes shape, and a waltz begins. As the magic potion begins to boil, its steam etches the film’s title on the screen. Thus begins Forst’s film Wiener Blut, one of the most famous operetta films made in Austria in the period between the 1930s and late 1950s. The film, which premiered in Vienna on April 2, 1942, is a screen adaptation of Johann Strauss’ operetta with the same name, and the above described scene, preceding the opening credits, works as an introduction to the film, drawing attention to the various ingredients that typically distinguished Austrian operetta films (Bono, 1996). There is the Humor that operetta films have in common with comedy. High spirits both define the characters and infect the audience. Levity pervades the genre as well, for operetta films do not take themselves seriously (though they can be serious). Their stories generally revolve around love and the obstacles that first break up the couple, before a happy ending whisks them away. And there is Heart resounding in the songs, the sentimental atmosphere, and the melancholy tone that occasionally predominates. For the Heart that was a major ingredient in the recipe of Austrian operetta films is not equivalent to Love, the energetic, dynamic sentiment that triumphed in Hollywood musical films. In Austrian operetta films, Love is constantly connected to the vague recognition that everything is subject to decay and eventually will have an end. While Humor, Levity, and Heart are poured generously into the retort in the opening scene of Forst’s Wiener Blut, the alchemist only adds a few drops of History. This gesture summarizes the special relationship that Austrian musical films had with history. Aside from music, which naturally represented their most important ingredient, history was a major component. Their attitude toward history appears in fact as the element that deeply differentiated Austrian films of the time from, for instance, Hollywood’s musical films. Their world, narratives and characters unmistakably belong to modern America, music and dances are those of the 20th century. To an extent, Vincent Minnelli’s film Meet Me in St. Louis, produced by MGM in 1944 and set in the year 1903, appears rather as an exception among American musical films. By contrast, Austrian films were typically set in the past, their world was that of the Hapsburg monarchy between the time of the Congress of Vienna and Fin de Siècle. There are hardly any operetta films made in Austria between the 1930s and the after-war years that take place in the present. As for the musical films made in Berlin in the 1930s, they apparently stand between Hollywood and Vienna. The influence of the tradition of Viennese operetta on German musical films of the time is apparent; at the same time, German cinema strongly oriented itself towards America. It seems to be no coincidence that German cinema contributed to the development of the musical film genre at the beginning of the 1930s with two masterly works such as Der Kongress tanzt by Erik Charell and Die Drei von der Tankstelle by Wilhelm Thiele, the first one looking towards Vienna, the other towards America (Koebner, 2003). While Charell’s film followed in the line of Viennese operetta, drawing partly on Strauss’ operetta Wiener Blut (as would Forst’s later film), Thiele’s work was one of German musical films of the time that came nearest to the Hollywood model. As exemplified by Forst’s films Operette, Wiener Blut and Wiener Mädeln, Austrian musical film privileged the past, which raises the question: where does this penchant for the past come from? The answer sheds light on its affinity to the Viennese operetta that served as its model, the remark equally regarding the pre-war period as well as the 1950s. In its affection for the past, Austrian film followed in the steps of Viennese operetta. As German literature scholar and theater critic Volker Klotz (1991) has noted, “When and where does the dramatic action of the operetta take place? Rarely in one’s own environment and one’s own present. More often in another time and place” (p. 66). In doing so, operetta “presented an opportunity to confront the bleak limitation and colorlessness of everyday life with ecstasy, with a surfeit of abundance and color” (Klotz, p. 66). 81 ISSN 2414-8385 (Online) European Journal of January - April 2019 ISSN 2414-8377 (Print) Multidisciplinary Studies Volume 4, Issue 1 Austrian musical films had this in common with the historical genre: both conjure up a bygone past on screen and use history as the occasion to present a spectacle, aiming to impress with the splendor and exoticism of their settings.
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